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Biotech / Medical : COMPUTERIZED THERMAL IMAGING (COII)- research only -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chirodoc who wrote (76)	2/5/1999 10:15:00 AM
From: chirodoc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 256

What is "Computerized Thermal Imaging" The use of body temperature as an indicator of health has been practiced for centuries. Very early biblical texts contain references to fever as an indication of sickness. As early as 64AD, the Roman physician Celsus used heat as one of his four basic signs of inflammation. The most universal tool used today to measure the health of an individual is the simple thermometer. More sophisticated measurement devices use heat-sensitive pads, patches or electrodes to measure temperature, and even more advanced instruments use heat-sensitive, infrared cameras to record patterns of heat waves. The engineering and scientific communities refer to the use of these cameras as "Infrared Imaging," and in the medical community this technique has been commonly referred to as "Thermography." It is inappropriate and somewhat misleading to characterize Computerized Thermal Imaging as "thermography". Thermography has been around for many years and covers a broad range of devices and applications. Using thermography to describe Computerized Thermal Imaging is like describing a CAT Scan as just a x-ray. Although a CAT Scan certainly uses x-ray, its technology, resolution, application and diagnostic value go far beyond a simple x-ray. Similarly, Computerized Thermal Imaging goes far beyond what thermography offers. Although Computerized Thermal Imaging applies the same scientific principals as thermography, it creates a whole new field of diagnostic imaging, just as CAT Scan has created a whole new field of imaging beyond simple x-rays. Like CAT Scan, Computerized Thermal Imaging uses the computer to capture, store, reconstruct and display the images. Computerized Thermal Imaging goes beyond that by also using the computer to do a mathematical analysis of the images. In the case of our breast cancer research, CTI has developed a proprietary model of what malignant tissue looks like. Using this model, the computer is able to identify with a high degree of accuracy the areas in the image that exhibit the characteristics of malignancy. There are several key developments that make Computerized Thermal Imaging possible. These include highly sensitive equipment, a strictly controlled patient environment and proprietary examination protocols. The most fundamental development is the image processing algorithms. Although there are many similarities between the technical evolution of Computerized Thermal Imaging and CAT Scans, they are still fundamentally different imaging technologies. Computerized Thermal Imaging uses radiated heat as an indicator of the physiological activity of the body. CAT Scans use x-rays to create an anatomical picture of the body. It is not a matter of one imaging modality being better than the other. They are, in fact, complimentary when you take advantage of their respective strengths. Although CAT Scans and Computerized Thermal Imaging have many differences, the one thing they have in common is that they each mark the next generation of medical imaging within their respective fields